So I guess I'll nail this on the head. I never saw anything of Star Wars, much less do I want anything to do with the series. When things get hyped up so much by the fans, I despise it. There's a lot of things that fall into this category, most recently Scott Pilgrim. Although I did see LOTR when it came out, and think they're good movies, but not "must-see".

Hell the movies in my "must-see" list would have people going "What?"1. Neverending Story2. Pagemaster

Because it's a story-telling device that details three major parts to the story. First, that Han is a blackhat (thus allowing his move to whitehat to be more triumphant). Secondly that while Greedo is good, Han is the best. Thirdly, that Luke and Ben may have sold themselves out.

If Greedo shoots first, it ruins Han's character arc, turns Greedo into an incompetent (and thus all Rodians/Jabba's men) and removes the tension over whether Han will betray Ben/Luke.

It's equivalent to letting Rick go off with Ilsa at the end of Casablanca, letting Gordon shoot Dr. Breen, or having Samus Aran actually being male. Ruins the concept of the character.

You know what? That's somewhat like me. I've never read Dune, never watched Blade Runner, never watched Firefly. There's a lot of stuff I haven't seen or read, just because I haven't gotten around to it.

But, to have never seen Star Wars? Everyone I know and their grandma has seen at least one of the movies.

I guess now I need to start a webcomic up and draw some characters with tattoos on them, and then randomly remove them in the archives, and put them back every so often, just to see if I can get responses like this one.

I have seen Dune. I have not read Dune. Reading Dune is the literary equivalent of having a test pattern play in your brain for eleven million hours. It's got to be the single driest, most boring piece of sci-fi I've ever tried to read. I've made the attempt I don't know how many times.

Dora:I have seen Dune. I have not read Dune. Reading Dune is the literary equivalent of having a test pattern play in your brain for eleven million hours. It's got to be the single driest, most boring piece of sci-fi I've ever tried to read. I've made the attempt I don't know how many times.

I was going to make a big rant about how wrong that is, but then I remembered my standards for "driest, most boring reading" are skewed. I read books like "Medieval Writings on Female Spirituality" on the subway.

So yes, Dune is not the most gripping, edge-of-your-seat work by any means. It also has some of the best sci-fi ideas ever.

This comic seems to be a response to the posts following Critical Miss # 22. Lets put a few thigs into perspective. The current year is 2010. Blade Runner came out in 1982. Dune came out in 1984. The Star Wars movie with Han shooting Greedo came out in 1977. The most recent any of these things happened was over 25 YEARS AGO! There are people working at the escapist that are younger then that. Ironically, the social commentary that was being made in Blade Runner is very fitting in this situation. The replicant that had an incredible ammount of life expiereince, that no youthful human could possess, was passing on. He, the villain of the story, died with the arrogance that the current generation would never have enough humanity to relate to him because they did not share his expierience.

I really don't give a fuck about Star Wars/Trek/Gate either because it's just not my taste. I don't like laser this and phaser that. But i love the Trilogy(Rings of course) to death. So yeah, Lucas doesn't stand a hint of a chance against Tolkien.

craddoke:I found watching Dune (Lynch's theatrical version) a chore - I did it, but I didn't like it. The SciFi Channel mini-series was better, but it still felt like work.

The books were pure spice - and in my heightened state of awareness, I came to know the awful truth. Star Wars is to Dune like an Honored Matre is to a Reverend Mother.

Edit: I.E., a whore.

dude starwars took from every epic story George could get his hands on, it's a totally whore, but not just for dune, for just about everything, which ironically may be part of why it's so good (originally).

Robyrt:I was going to make a big rant about how wrong that is, but then I remembered my standards for "driest, most boring reading" are skewed. I read books like "Medieval Writings on Female Spirituality" on the subway.

So yes, Dune is not the most gripping, edge-of-your-seat work by any means. It also has some of the best sci-fi ideas ever.

Oh, I'm sure it's absolutely brilliant. Millions of fans and my husband can't be wrong. But even he admits they're not exactly rip-roaring. I can't help it. Within the first few pages my mind starts to wander. "And now he's putting his hand in the box... and now everyone's talking some more... hey, what kind of name is 'Gilligan'?"

Admittedly I'm not much for sci-fi. I'm an armchair fan for most stuff. I liked the movie alright though. I guess. I mean, I don't remember much of it. I may have fallen asleep. I'm just a simple lass, I guess.

I've seen Star Wars, and I never understood the referanse this alien shooting first. I know who it is, and what scene it referances, but beyond that, the whole "Greedo shot first" thing leaves me puzzled.

unacomn:I have seen Star Wars many times, and I don't recall what a Geedo is, or if it shoots first.Was that one of the umpa lumpas at the end?

obvious troll is obvious

I'm actually not kidding about the Greedo thing. Without looking it up on Google, I don't recall that character/thing. Also, the Ewoks are sort of the umpa lumpas of the Star Wars movies, they're small, helpful and have a fondness for singing and dancing.I still can't figure how those things were so potent against the armed forces of the Galactic Empire. The rumors must be true, they are descended from Kyle Katarn's beard shavings.Regardless, I apologize for appearing to be a troll. I am and forever shall be a grunt.

OT: I do catch myself looking at people like they soiled themselves if they haven't seen Star Wars, or Aliens. It's just some of the movies you have to have seen. Not only because they are good movies, but because they are so embedded in western culture that references to them are peppered throughout any kind of media, and not even being able to catch the most common references is a damned shame.

If you want to talk about Star Wars or any such 'must see' work of fiction, sure...you'd better have seen it first. But if someone just genuinely doesn't want to talk about it or hasn't even seen it, then why the heck are you so upset about it that you have to go ad hominem on their ass? Okay...doing it in a jokey sort of way is fine, but genuine resentment? Heh...alright, then you need some help.

I mean...I understand it if people start going around saying "Warhammer ripped WoW off" or such, those people really do need to have their ignorance pointed out to them. But even there I couldn't give a shit about which came first to be honest. It's like the whole "Every modern high fantasy fiction is always 100% plagiatist of Tolkien!" thing - stop moaning about it, because the similarities are so retartedly pointless by now that it's not even worth mentioning as anyone, who's done their research, can tell the difference between "inspired" and "plagiarism." Or are we going to go down the road of Tolkien being a plagiatist of the old norse mythologies?...who were plagiazing the elements of nature?...who were plagiazing the whole goddamn universe? :p

Honestly I sometimes find the elitists, who even bash the uninformed that don't want to talk about their popular idols of worship, as moreso obnoxious than the ignoramuses. So yes...I know who these people are in this comic really. Two of them in fact. Those who want to slag off things based on uninformed opinions, that come from not having examined the 'must-have' works as well as those who just slag off any who hasn't seen them, even when they'd just genuinely had other stuff in their lives than freaking Star Wars.

It's popular, sure, but come the hell on! When elitists automatically think that advertising push and lightsabers and shit have to equal every human being on the planet knowing about it, they're only fooling themselves really. It's symptomatic of the whole myopic Western culture I think, that likes to imagine how it dominates the world now and that everyone must bow down to it. Sure, it's best known...but dominate the world? Heh...not by a longshot I think.

Loonerinoes:If you want to talk about Star Wars or any such 'must see' work of fiction, sure...you'd better have seen it first. But if someone just genuinely doesn't want to talk about it or hasn't even seen it, then why the heck are you so upset about it that you have to go ad hominem on their ass? Okay...doing it in a jokey sort of way is fine, but genuine resentment? Heh...alright, then you need some help.

I mean...I understand it if people start going around saying "Warhammer ripped WoW off" or such, those people really do need to have their ignorance pointed out to them. But even there I couldn't give a shit about which came first to be honest. It's like the whole "Every modern high fantasy fiction is always 100% plagiatist of Tolkien!" thing - stop moaning about it, because the similarities are so retartedly pointless by now that it's not even worth mentioning as anyone, who's done their research, can tell the difference between "inspired" and "plagiarism." Or are we going to go down the road of Tolkien being a plagiatist of the old norse mythologies?...who were plagiazing the elements of nature?...who were plagiazing the whole goddamn universe? :p

Honestly I sometimes find the elitists, who even bash the uninformed that don't want to talk about their popular idols of worship, as moreso obnoxious than the ignoramuses. So yes...I know who these people are in this comic really. Two of them in fact. Those who want to slag off things based on uninformed opinions, that come from not having examined the 'must-have' works as well as those who just slag off any who hasn't seen them, even when they'd just genuinely had other stuff in their lives than freaking Star Wars.

It's popular, sure, but come the hell on! When elitists automatically think that advertising push and lightsabers and shit have to equal every human being on the planet knowing about it, they're only fooling themselves really. It's symptomatic of the whole myopic Western culture I think, that likes to imagine how it dominates the world now and that everyone must bow down to it. Sure, it's best known...but dominate the world? Heh...not by a longshot I think.

What you have to remember is that Clutch is a video games journalist. Video games are tied into nerd culture. Western nerd culture is tied into Star Wars. That's not a myopic view. It's a legitimate assessment. Clutch not having seen Star Wars (and then lying about it) isn't acceptable in his particular social circle and it's certainly a weakness when it comes to his profession.

Erin not liking people who haven't seen Dune on the other hand is a little bit extreme. She's not supposed to be always right.

One of the reasons I like working with Cory is that he's the polar opposite of me when it comes to these things. He hasn't seen the majority of the films I consider sacred and is completely nonplussed when I force him to watch them.